December 19, 2006

Two of My Favorite Things

Patrick, over at The Hawk Owl's Nest, recently posted a couple videos that brought back a lot of really fond memories for me involving two of my favorite things growing up: John Denver and The Muppets. I can vividly remember riding in the back of the family station wagon when I was around seven years old demanding that everyone in the car be subjected to listening to one of two 8-tracks: John Denver's Greatest Hits or the soundtrack from The Muppet Movie. I'm sure my older siblings probably remember having to decide between hearing "The Rainbow Connection" for the eighteenth time that day or experiencing one of my temper tantrums (which, if I remember right, often involved throwing whatever food was in my hand at the moment). I must have ended up winning that argument a fair number of times since both of these 8-tracks died long before that station wagon did, along with the only 8-track player our family ever owned.

Anyway, while the Muppets have been downgraded to a mere novelty for me, John Denver remains one of the most influential musicians in my life. His songs have inspired me ever since I can remember hearing Rocky Mountain High for the first time. Most importantly, it was through John Denver's music that I met the most important person in my life (if you haven't heard that story and you want to, send me an email). So, to follow Patrick's lead, I decided to post my own JD-Muppet duet that I dug up on YouTube. This is from the same 1979 Christmas special, I think, with John singing "Poems, Prayers, and Promises" (one of my favorite songs) with a Muppet accompaniment.

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